EAST AUSTIN DISTRICT UNITES THE BEST OF AUSTIN UNDER ONE ROOF

The new East Austin District created by Austin Sports & Entertainment and designed by award-winning architects BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group is an entirely new sports and entertainment neighborhood tailored to celebrate world-class sports and cultural experiences under one checkered roofscape.

Austin Sports & Entertainment today announced plans to launch East Austin District, the city’s first and only sports, culture and entertainment destination located east of downtown Austin. Designed by New York and Copenhagen-based architects BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, known for 2 World Trade Center in Manhattan and Google Headquarters in Mountain View, in partnership with Austin-based architects STG Design, the new East Austin District captures the distinct spirit of Austin with the city’s first pro-sports stadium and large-scale music arena. The development will be anchored by a 40,000-seat outdoor bowl and a 15,000-seat arena featuring a revamped Rodeo Austin. The new ecosystem will be energized year-round by its surrounding urban character: workspaces, youth enrichment, medical facilities, convention space, and hospitality.

“The East Austin District represents an opportunity for Austin to combine what it needs with what it wants - community infrastructure for District 1 with world-class facilities for sports, entertainment, and hospitality. We are in active discussions with leading organizations, including our partners Rodeo Austin, as well as various corporations to serve as anchors to accelerate the vision of the Spirit of East Austin Forum.”

Rodeo Austin, founded in 1938, is the fourth largest rodeo in the US with annual attendance for its main event at nearly 300,000 attendees. It awarded over $2 million in scholarships in 2017 to local youth.

“Rodeo Austin is fully committed to the redevelopment of the existing Travis County Expo Center property and believe it to be in the best interests of the citizens of Austin and the Central Texas area. We are pleased to be partnering with Austin Sports & Entertainment in pursuit of this project and an East Austin entertainment district which will have a positive impact on our community for decades and generations to come.”

Rob Goulding, CEO Rodeo Austin

Located at the site of Rodeo Austin, the East Austin District is a world of worlds for sports fans, music festival-goers and adventurists to take the pilgrimage for the quintessential Austin experience. Meanwhile, Texans and Austinites will feel at home with cultural roots and history embodied in the architecture of East Austin District: inspired by the Jefferson Grid, the individual buildings are arranged as a checkerboard of different functions, appearing as a latticed roofscape from above.

At the center of East Austin District, a 40,000-seat stadium is designed for large-scale sports events, music festivals and other major events. Another venue, a 15,000-seat multi-purpose arena connected to the stadium, will serve as the home for a reinvigorated Rodeo Austin, musical acts, and other sports and community programs to rally Austinites and visitors alike.

“Like a collective campus rather than a single stadium the East Austin District unifies many cultural elements into a village of courtyards and canopies. Embracing Austin’s local character and culture, the East Austin District is a single destination composed of many smaller structures under one roof. Part architecture, part urbanism, part landscape – the district is the architectural manifestation of collective intimacy – a complex capable of making tens of thousands of fans come together and enjoy the best Austin has to offer inside and between its buildings.”

Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG

The stadium and arena are conjoined by state-of-the-art facilities and support functions, optimizing efficiency and cost while providing views to the best of both worlds.

“STG Design is very excited to be part of the team for this visionary sports and entertainment hub in our hometown. Austin Sports & Entertainment has partnered on a site that makes a great deal of sense. The Rodeo Austin site is in the preferred growth area for Austin, away from the environmentally sensitive zones, with excellent access to and from the CBD. It is also an area of Austin that is prime and deserving for significant economic and cultural development.”

Jack Tisdale, Principal at STG Design

East Austin District’s generous community courtyards are the outdoor ‘living rooms’ for public life. Austinites can gather in the parks and plazas for communal gatherings, food truck scenes and recreation, as well as concerts that fuel the hometown’s claim as the Live Music Capital of the World.

At the district’s edge, various buildings bolster Austin’s burgeoning retail, shopping, dining and hospitality scene adding more job opportunities for local residents. In addition, youth facilities are created for Rodeo Austin - one of Texas’ largest scholarship providers – to help promote youth education and enrichment through play, volunteer and study.

The culture of The Lone Star State lives and breathes through East Austin District, tailored inside and outside, all week and all year, to bring a lively and authentic Texan destination.

ABOUT AUSTIN SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Austin Sports & Entertainment (ASE) is an Austin-based company founded by veteran global sports media executives Andrew Nestor & Sean Foley. ASE’s founders have successfully founded, operated and advised world-leading sports, entertainment and media brands around the world. ASE was established to acquire, build, invest in and advise groundbreaking sports, entertainment, media, and branded lifestyle companies. ASE is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is committed to bringing world-class infrastructure and content to its hometown.